a movie therapy

If you have read my previous entry called THE LIST, you'll remember I claimed cinema can have the power to change lives. Such an overstatement can sound very romantic, but hark! The kind of transformation we are dealing with here doesn't necessarily have to be FOR THE BETTER! Oh, no...

Black Narcissus, 1947

However, Carl Gustav Jung said that you should never be afraid of a change for the worse... as long as it brings you nearer to your own Truth -and I am rephrasing his words here because this is not intended to be a PhD.

Carl Gustav Jung, 1875-1961

 You can take Jung's shocking ideas the way you prefer. As for my personal translation of them, I believe there are few things worse in life than being a stranger to yourself. This is a situation that normally leads to wrong life choices, phony human relationships and -ultimately- terminally boring lives. And this is, precisely, the leit motif for most of the movies on my LIST.

Please don't take me wrong. I don't expect all my readers to share my own personal taste in cinema. This would be a fascist blog if I did. The good thing about movies is there is always a meaningful one for each and every one of us. I am basically a period-costume-drama sort of person, but it takes all sorts to make the world. You may be a Godfather/Sopranos/Montalbano/The-Leopard sort of person, or a Madmen/The-Apartment/Masters&Johnson sort of person, or a Showgirls/Boogie-Nights/Studio-54 sort of person, or a Cage-aux-folles/Behind-the-Candelabra sort of person, or a Colour-Purple/Fried-Green-Tomatoes/Dolores-Claiborne sort of person. Whoever you are, there must have been a time in your life when a film SPOKE TO YOU. That's what matters. 

What sort of things do motion pictures tell us? I don't know about yours, but mine speak quite clearly. These are some examples that spontaneously come to mind:

- "A Room with a View" seems to be telling me Self-knowledge is the key to all Happiness. It may also be saying that Nature is the easiest way to God

A Room with a View, 1985

- "Good Morning Babilonia" tells me creating beautiful things can make it up for life's hardships. In other words, Ars Lunga, Vita Brevis.

Good Morning, Babilonia, 1986

- "A month in the Country" says Mother Nature will heal you in your darkest hour.

A month in the Country, 1987

- "Tea with Mussolini" says bad times are never too bad in the company of good friends.

Tea with Mussolini, 1999

And so on and so forth. Now. If this is so, the movies we feed our minds can change the way we think -provided that we are young, impressionable or flexible enough. Well, this is what I call a movie therapy. I use my dvd player medicinally myself. I mean, who doesn't? We all play us a comedy when we are down... or a drama when we feel strong enough to take other people's trouble. Many times we choose the films that will tell us what we want to hear; but there are times when movies take us by surprise and mirror some of those ugly things about ourselves that we keep trying to ignore. This, and no other, will be the topic for PERVIGILIUM VENERIS, the next entry on this blog.